Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Description:

An evergreen vine that features stunning, variegated green and cream foliage; volumes of showy, trumpet shaped pink flowers with deep pink throats, from summer into fall; flowers best in full sun; takes pruning well; a perfect trellis or garden wall plant

Ornamental Features

Variegated Bower Vine features showy fragrant shell pink tubular flowers with white overtones and ruby-red throats along the branches from mid summer to mid fall. Its attractive glossy pointy leaves remain dark green in colour with showy creamy white variegation and tinges of buttery yellow throughout the year.

Landscape Attributes

Variegated Bower Vine is a multi-stemmed annual with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Variegated Bower Vine is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Variegated Bower Vine will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. As a climbing vine, it should either be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. Although it's not a true annual, this fast-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Variegated Bower Vine is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.